The Uber IPO

The big business news this week is Uber's IPO, expected to take place on Friday. The ride-hailing giant has indicated an expected price range of $44 to $50 a share, meaning the company could raise up to $9 billion at the high end of that range.

That's slightly less than some of the biggest tech IPOs in recent years. Facebook raised $16 billion through its 2012 offering, while Visa Inc. raised almost $18 billion in 2008. China's Alibaba Group raked in roughly $25 billion in 2014.

Still, that's not too bad for a company that's bleeding red ink.  Uber reported $1 billion in net income last year thanks to the sale of some operations in Russia and Asia, but it posted an operating loss of $3 billion.